Ice

3-'she wanted something less irish'

Alex didn't seem upset when he met Gabe's eyes the next morning. He took the seat in front of Gabe, for there was no way Hemera and Alex would both fit on the seat beside him. Hemera, her lips red today, looked simply delighted when Gabe had nervously plopped down beside her.

He asked her now, as the bus proceeded to the next stop, "What's your full name? And where does 'Hemera' come from?"

"It's the Greek goddess of the day," she explained. "My last name's O'mally, but my mom's family is from Greece, so she wanted something less Irish. My middle name is Alice - it's my aunt's first name. What's your full name?"

Gabriel, attempting to process the abundance of information that was just supplied, hesitated before answering. His name had no story such as that. He shrugged and answered, "Just Gabriel Adams Junior. It's my dad's name, so..." He trailed off, unsure of where that sentence was going. Really, he shouldn't have mentioned his dad, because now he was thinking about him.

Him and the fact that he had been away for a week even though he had promised to be away for two days.

Hemera never seemed to stop smiling. For the majority of the drive to school, Gabe just looked at her: smiling, talking, laughing whenever he threw in a sarcastic remark. He tried not to do that often, though, because hearing her voice was the only thing that seemed important for the next twenty minutes.

The blue-haired girl made it obvious to him just why her and Alex appeared to be friends. She was agreeable, funny, interesting, outgoing, and very, very pretty. In fact, she must have been known by just about everyone in the high school.

In middle school, Hemera had won multiple academic awards (the kind that were announced at assemblies). She assured Gabe, however, that she had no idea why. Her grades were outstanding, but she never put forward all of her effort.

Another reason to hate her, Gabe thought, but the thought brought him to realize that albeit she smiled with ease and held a high GPA, he had never actually hated her. Not in their whole three days of acquaintance.

"Gabriel," the sophomore said thoughtfully as they pulled into the parking lot, "Do you skate?"

"You mean, like, on roller blades?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow. He knew that she didn't mean roller blades, though, because who uses roller blades?

To this, she responded, "No, I mean on ice."

He studied her for a moment, trying to decide whether she was joking. He had just told her that he had come from Tucson. There weren't ice rinks there - where there was rarely even snow. Before replying, he stood up to exit the bus. Hemera followed closely behind, repeating, "Well, do you?" He shuffled down the aisle behind a row of slow-moving students. Eventually, his feet descended the stairs and landed on the asphalt of the lot.

Finally, he turned to face her, and she stopped short. Gabe rolled his eyes and said, "No, I don't skate. It's hard to do in a place that barely even goes below thirty-two degrees in mid-January." Hemera shrugged, looking truly careless.

"I'll teach you, then," she offered, grinning. He scoffed and turned away from her. Despite her eyes, and chin, and hair, and cheeks... he left her behind. Hemera didn't hesitate with catching up to him.

"I'm serious!" she huffed as they jogged along. "I take my sister to the rink at the park every Friday. You should come, it's really fun." He shook his head slowly, quickening his pace once more. She pursued with a giant smile.

Gabriel walked all the way to the Junior building before loosing a sigh directed at Hemera. She had not stopped trying to convince him during their walk. He knew the bell that signaled the beginning of class would ring soon, yet she persisted, "Gabriel, I know you're totally opposed to cold weather or whatever, but it's not going away for at least a month or two, so you might as well accept it. Just one time skating!"